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Ok, time to confess something really dorky: I’ve been looking for the perfect bicycle-print fabric for years now. It’s actually become something of an obsessive manhunt – trying to avoid the quilting cottons, the cruisers and penny farthings, the hideous color combinations. You’d think with bicycles being these super cutesy Pinterest-approved photo prop (forreal, I’m sick of looking at pictures of people using their bikes as props! Ride that shit already!), there would be a bigger selection of this type of print. You’d think. I never found it, though.

UNTIL RECENTLY.

Isn’t this biciclette fabricadorable?? It’s from Bubiknits‘ shop on Spoonflower. I’ve always wanted to try my hand with a piece of Spoonflower fabric – but honestly, every time I try to browse the choices, I get overwhelmed with so many options. And I’m not gonna try to design my own because, ha, no. Let’s just not even discuss. So when Giusy emailed me and asked if I would like a couple of yards of any fabric from her shop as a gift, I immediately zeroed in on that bicycle print in organic cotton sateen. I had no idea what I was going to do with it, except that it would be a dress.

I should apologize in advance for how bad these pictures ended up. Turns out white doesn’t photograph too well in bright sunlight. Who woulda thought? Just imagine the bicycles and we will get to the close-ups soon enough.

Obviously, this ain’t my first Belladone rodeo. That stripey dress is actually 100% the reason why I decided to make my bicycle dress with the same pattern – it is my favorite dress to cycle in! It’s very comfortable, the skirt is the perfect width needed for riding (but not so floofy that it causes wardrobe malfunctions) and I like to think that it’s pretty enough that it makes the Mary Poppins Effect a reality on my commute. Plus, the dress is finished with bias tape – visible or invisible – which I thought would provide a nice contrast against the white/yellow of the main fabric. As much as I love the colorway, it unfortunately washes me out, so I needed something a little darker to sit next to my face.

I can’t really say I started this dress with any real direction in mind. Originally, I wanted the contrast to be turquoise, but when I actually got the fabrics side-by-side, I didn’t like the look of the two colors together… too light for my tastes. Navy seemed like the perfect choice (and yes – that’s navy. I know it looks black, but it’s navy.). I used leftover navy cotton sateen from my lace trench (I swear, that fabric… it’s like the gift that keeps on giving. I STILL HAVE MORE OF IT, TOO) and made a few yards of bias tape to enclose all the edges along the top of the dress. I actually applied all this bias tape by hand, so the stitches would be invisible. I think it adds a bit of polish to the overall effect, even if it did mean making this dress took twice as long. I also applied a strip of interfacing to each diagonal edge, as well as staystitching, to make sure the edges don’t get distorted over time.

Of course, taking a light dress and adding dark trim to the bodice meant that the thing ended up looking top-heavy. I added more dark contrast to the waistband, as well as a couple of inches above the hem, which I think ties the dress together. To finish, I added 2 self-covered buttons at the center front.

It’s so perfect, I could marry it.

And the back! Don’t you love the back!?

One more picture, sorry 🙂

Here you can see the bicycles! Aren’t they sweet 🙂

Since I’d already made this pattern before, I didn’t need to make any major modifications (other than the aforementioned contrast additions). I did sew the side seams at the waist with a 1/2″ seam allowance (instead of the pattern’s 5/8″); I noticed that my stripey dress can get a little tight if I’ve eaten a lot of food, so an extra bit of wiggle room is appreciated 🙂

I also pressed the pleats so they were centered over the stitching lines (instead of pressed to one side). This gives them more of a box-pleat look, as opposed to a soft tuck.

Can you see the stitching on the outside, huh, can you? NEITHER CAN I!

The inside waistband is faced with more bicycles 🙂 And yay, yellow zipper!

Sewing that strip of navy around the bottom was super easy. I sewed on my hem facing as usual, then centered the seam binding over the stitching and stitched it down on both sides.

Working with this fabric was an absolute dream – and wearing it is even better 🙂 I know Spoonflower’s fabrics tend to skew toward the pricey side, but this is some good stuff – organic cotton sateen with the subtlest sheen, the colors are rich and saturated, and it’s very easy to sew and press. Plus, the design choices! Gah!

Thank you again, Giusy, for the amazing fabric! If anyone was wondering… yes, I have taken this dress for a bike ride, and yes, it was a little magical 😉

One last thing – and I swear, it’s important – I just heard through the grapevine that Colette Patterns is running in second place in the Martha Stewart American Made Competition. The #1 spot is currently being held by a scrapbooking company, boo! If you’ve got a minute to spare, go vote for them (you can login with your Facebook if you’re lazy like me, and you do not have to be a US resident to cast a vote!). Colette Patterns will be dumping the entire $10k prize back into their employees as bonuses, which is pretty fucking amazing and I think totally deserving of winning. Plus, do we really want to see them get beat out by a scrapbooking company? NOPE!

Aaah this is so perfect! I love prints like this that aren’t even obvious unless you’re looking closely. Lovely work, and the navy trim touches are SPOT ON. I’m curious about how you did your binding — did you machine-stitch to the front, then fold over and hand stitch to the back? It looks incredible.

Ooh, I LOVE this! I’m on my second Belladone and this one of yours is my favorite of all I’ve seen. I’m also starting to realize the possibilities with contrasting bias tape and I LOVE what you did with it here!

Spoonflower recommends a no-phosphate detergent (I thought I read somewhere that phosphate makes colors fade faster), but none of their colors appear to remain vivid if washed repeatedly (eg, clothing). I’ve long hesitated to buy Spoonflower yardage because Teh Internets are sprinkled with comments/complaints about general fading – OK if you like the vintagey look, but not great if you want bright colors.

It’s because it’s a digital print, so the dyes don’t react with the fabric the way a traditional print would… For now I just don’t think the price is worth it when you’d use the fabric for dressmaking! I’m about to learn how to silkscreen my own yardage of fabric with my own designs, so that should be awesome… Creating photographic prints is out of the question, but my own illustrations are definitely possible!

Ah, I love this! I love Spoonflower and there’s so many designs that I’ve considered ordering, especially since they have organic cotton! My only hesitation is the price… so I’ll have to save it for some special project.

This dress, though, is amazing. I love all the bias trim and the buttons!

This particular one was faced and topstitched, but I generally prefer giving them a nice wide allowance (2″-4″) with a machine-stitched strip of lace or seam binding at the top, and then handstitched invisibly.

So you know how when you’ve never heard of something before, you suddenly hear about it 39x in one day…well that happened. I’ve heard of spoon flower never until this AM and since, I’ve come across it several times without seeking it out. Crazy. Anyway, I love the spoonflower patterns!! So much choice. So graphic and pretty. I know I’m no Lladybird but I can make pillows so I’m thinking of all the cute pillows I could make with the fabrics. It’ll probably turn me into one or those obnoxious people with 30 decorative pillows on everything but oh well

Where I work you can get an interest free bike loan to buy a bike to commute to work, and they take the repayments out of your paycheque. I used to work with a girl who used this to buy the sweetest, girliest bike so she could do that. Like, it had a basket for her cat and streamers on the handlebars and all that, but she didn’t know how to ride a bike. I used to see her walking it to work. Tragic.

Anyway, reminiscing aside, this is totally awesome as always. I love a themed garment! Good call on the navy sateen, I think it stops this from being too sweet and gives it some edge.

GAHHHH! SOOOOO CUTE!!! This totally makes me want to fix my Belladone pattern and try another one right now! Now I want it to be summer for just one more month! The line of bias on the skirt just sets the whole thing off, I’m totally copying that idea – imitation IS the sincerest form of flattery, right? The fabric print is beyond darling, too.

Beautiful Belladone! I love how you added the trim to the bottom part, and great tip on how to do that! I wore mine to work today and it is such an amazing pattern!
I’ve been voting everyday for Colette, really hope they’ll win!

I ordered my Belladone pattern and I am on my way to order my Bella Jean pattern. I will have to make them in some transitional fabric so I get the chance to wear them before the season changes on me 🙂 Love both your dresses so much and want to make them both. You inspired to make me order way too many patterns in the last few days!!! Good thing my kids are back in school so I will have time to sew them up…

Before I read through the whole post I saw that you were searching for the perfect print in an apparel fabric and I was about to jump right to the comments to suggest spoonflower. Glad you found it! I keep lusting over all the designs and the possibilities make me drool but that price tag gives me a major reality check.
Love the way you wear the Belladone. It’s fantastic! I don’t think I could pull off that opening in the back like you do but it’s fun to admire it from afar.
BTW, I finally started my own blog after lurking around and following you forever wanting to be you for a day (year) just so I can wear your awesome clothes! Drop by and visit me. http://vinthillvintage.wordpress.com/

The navy and yellow combo looks so good on you. You always make the most adorable dresses! That print is perfect. Doesn’t it feel so good when you’ve been looking for just the right fabric for so long and you finally find it?! The strip of navy around the bottom is the perfect touch; I love how it echoes the binding and buttons up top.

What a great job on this. I love the navy and yellow. Although I never would have considered wearing a cut-out before you are convincing me! Really pretty and beautiful sewing. PS I actually own a bicycle dress, but it’s faded red silk with black bicycles and I bought it a few years ago instead of making it. 🙂

As I was reading today’s post I wandered to this one — late, but only by a year… and you know what? I may be reading this a year after everyone else, but this dress is still right on! So much so I have a tab up for another window with the pattern in my cart. Love love love the contrast bits. Clever and beautiful! Well done! No matter what year this is now!

[…] I’m going to wait to post more about this dress until I can make another one, cause I frickin’ love it (mostly); but I will say that when I searched the pattern to link to, HAHA there’s those prop bikes Lauren hates! […]

[…] so we have that in common. What is your favourite make by your favourite blogger? Lladybird: A Belladone for Bicycling (if any of you read my blog, you’ll know I’ve already made 3 Belladones and I’m not […]